Death of Teen Challenge founder shocks local staff

Published 3:00 pm, Thursday, April 28, 2011

Local staff at the Midland Teen Challenge center said they were shocked Thursday morning to learn that the founder of their organization had died Wednesday in a car crash in East Texas.

The Rev. David Wilkerson, 79, was the founding pastor of Times Square Church in New York City and author of the best-selling book, "The Cross and the Switchblade."

The Associated Press reported he died after his car smashed head-on into a tractor-trailer rig after veering into oncoming traffic on U.S. 175 west of Cuney, about 95 miles southeast of Dallas, Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange said.

He was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. His wife, Gwendolyn, was also in the car and was wearing a seat belt, Mange said. She was taken to a hospital, where she was in stable condition with cuts and bruises, officials confirmed.

Wilkerson founded the non-denominational Times Square Church in 1987 in an area of Manhattan that was then riddled with X-rated movie houses, strip clubs, prostitution and drugs. He also founded Teen Challenge, which uses a biblically based recovery program for drug addicts.

Shelly Trammel, women's director at the Midland office, said their center is one of 250 in the United States, and that while she has been on staff Wilkerson never has visited the Midland campus but several staff have had the opportunity to either meet him or work alongside him at other centers.

"He was an amazing man and changed a lot of lives. It was sad to hear the news," she said.

The announcement of his death was made Thursday morning to students at the daily chapel service.

Staff and students plan to honor Wilkerson by watching his memorial service live from the Times Square Church in New York when it is broadcast over the Internet.